[The Outworlders 01] • Dragon's Trail

**"I didn't come here to sell my soul. I came here to buy it back."**

Once dubbed “The Deadliest Man Alive,” Jarrod Torrealday is a former Olympic saber hopeful and medieval weapons expert banned from competition for killing another fencer in a duel. He now scrapes by as a stuntman and technical consultant for low-budget fantasy films.

A young sorcerer from another world offers Jarrod the gig of a lifetime: adviser to the war council for a magical realm teetering on the edge of collapse, with a foreign army massing just beyond its borders.

Swept into a treacherous and deadly world of intrigue and conspiracy, Jarrod soon learns that the enemy mastermind is also from Earth, and has laid the foundations for a new kind of war.

**Seamlessly blending hard science with sword and sorcery, Dragon’s Trail is an international bestseller that’s being hailed as the pioneering work of a new genre: the Fantasy Technothriller.**

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*"Malik’s debut novel sparkles with a fresh take on some traditional epic fantasy tropes . . . showcasing Jarrod as James Bond in tarnished armor. Detailed descriptions of equipment and tactics don’t distract from the plot; rather, they add a layer of depth and dimension that carries the tale to the next level. This is a highly enjoyable story for fans of self-aware epic fantasy."*

- Publishers Weekly

*"Fantasy with a twist . . . executed with verve and intelligence."

"[Dragon's Trail] features immersive detail and hold-your-breath battle scenes."*

- The BookLife Prize

*"A book to savor and soak in all the details."*

-- San Francisco Review of Books